40 Days
by Ujvari
Summary: Captured by Marines and sold into slavery, Marco has to go through 40 days of excruciating hell. As his comrades race against time to rescue him, he fights with everything he has to stay the person he used to be. Pairings: MarcoxAce, VergoxMarco OCxMarco, a little ThatchxHaruta, brotherly ThatchxAce. Main Warnings: Rape, torture.
1. Day 1 (Part One)

Welcome, everyone. I´m back with another story and want to tell you from the start, that I won´t be able to update this on a regular basis. Work is stealing most of my time and it´s pretty hard for me to write the upcoming scenes in English. Therefore, I will only write when I feel like it. Also, Haruta is female in this fanfiction. I like her better like this ^_-

As you may have guessed from the pairings and warnings in the summary, this fic will be on a whole other level. Please be aware of this! If you feel uneasy with the warnings bellow, I recommend you to **leave now**, because there will be **explicit mature content**! I really mean it!

**General Warnings:** Rape, torture, violence, blood, bondage, heavy angst, character death (only OCs), language, hurt/comfort.  
It´s a broad range of different warnings, which should not be taken lightly. I will inform you at the beginning of each chapter for the appropriate.

**Warnings for this chapter:** Bondage, mentioned death, mentioned blood and mild violence, mild language. Nothing too heavy, just to be on the safe side and give a glimpse at what´s about to come.

Also, I would like to thank _Titania Eli_ for going through my horrible English and doing a great job at betaing the whole thing. Seriously, Titania, you´re amazing at this! If any of you read _Phoenix flames_ and you´re seeing writing improvement, it´s due to her. I can only recommend to go and take a look at her _sempiternal_ story.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing.

* * *

It was one of those days, where everything that could go wrong... went wrong.

"Watch out!" Somebody cried out in warning.

The few pirates, who heard the desperate shout from their _Nakama_ hurried away, just in time before the cannon ball hit the deck with devastating force, leaving a gaping hole in the wooden planks.

"We´ve sprung a leak!" Someone yelled from below.

"Patch it up then!" Haruta hollered back, having her hands full with a couple of Marines, who had popped up out of nowhere. Well, or what she _thought_ were Marines, but since she was unable to make out something like a real uniform, it might not be the Government´s dogs either.

Warding off an aggressive blow with her saber, the short Commander turned around, hurrying to the railing to cut the ropes off and effectively preventing the reinforcements to haul aboard. That was until only seconds later, new cords replaced the old ones.

Haruta couldn´t help, but grind her teeth, annoyed at the stubbornness of their enemy.

Nobody had seen them approach, they had just appeared out of the blue and as another ship emerged from the sea right next to them, the bubble coating popping silently, the brunette finally understood why.

What she didn´t know, though, was the cause of the attack. They were neither flying Whitebeard´s flag, nor any other Jolly Roger at the moment.

In fact, they were on a simple cargo vessel, one of their father's smaller boats, specially built for surveillance purpose. There was no way in hell, the Marines or anybody else could know who they were.

On the other hand, why should they assault an unsuspecting ship, which was anchored offshore near a rocky uninhabited archipelago?

'_And we were just about to meet up with Marco...'_

In that moment, a piercing shriek emitted from the sky above, causing the Marines to throw their heads back in surprise, frantically searching for the source of the sound.

Haruta used the opportunity to slash a throat open, sending the man in front of her down with a gurgling scream and then looked up herself, just in time to see the phoenix shape-shift into the 1st Division Commander.

"Marco!" She cried out in relief. The blonde man landed with a deep thump on the deck next to the smaller pirate.

"Haruta, what´s wrong, yoi?" He asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the assaulters.

"Oh, I don't know... Maybe that we´re under attack right now?" She snapped sarcastically.

Marco raised an eyebrow, studying the pissed brunette with a questioning, but lazy look, an amused smile tugging on his lips. That wasn´t the answer he had expected to get. "I can see that... But why, yoi?"

"I don´t know." She shrugged.

"Marines?"

"I think so... Although they seem like an unorganized bunch of cowards to me." Haruta sneered.

"Which branch is it, yoi?" Marco frowned, studying their faces. It was almost amusing, the way they were just standing there, conversing while still being surrounded by a bunch of armed soldiers.

"I don´t know. No flagship so far. It could still be hiding underwater, though."

"I see..."

"PHOENIX!"

Both Commanders glanced over, where the shout had originated from, only to find a shaking soldier standing there, pointing his weapon with false bravery at the two pirates, his pale complexion betraying his tough acting.

Marco tilted his head. "At least he´s not calling me chicken or something like that..."

Haruta snickered lightly.

"What is a Whitebeard pirate doing here? Do you have any connections with these people?" The Marine demanded.

"Why, no. Thought I´d just lend the young lady a hand, yoi..." Marco said mockingly. He could see the unbelieving look on the other´s face and shrugged. That´s what you got for asking dumb questions.

Without further hesitation, the soldier turned on his heels and started to retreat, pulling out a Baby Den-Den-Mushi and croaking words into it, which none of them were able to understand over the noise of the on-going battle around them.

Haruta leaned in closer, all signs of amusement leaving her face. "So they don´t know about our motives? That´s strange..."

"You could say it like that. Let´s just beat them up and leave it be, yoi." Marco shrugged.

The brunette stuck her tongue out in a playful manner, giving her older brother an agreeing nod and lifted her saber up once again.

* * *

The smaller Commander defended the vessel, while Marco circled the sky in search of the Vice Admiral, who had to be around somewhere near.

He could see two small ships with quite some soldiers on them and decided to land on the bigger one, descending rapidly and transforming into his human appearance a few meters above the deck. As soon as his feet made solid contact with the wood, his enemies were already pointing their guns at his chest.

Marco lifted his hands up, well aware that weapons wouldn´t hurt him anyway. "It´s useless, yoi."

One of the Marines reloaded his gun, aiming at the blonde Commander.

"You never know until you try." He said grimly.

He shot a bullet straight at Marco, who didn´t even flinch as it entered his shoulder. His body healed in the fraction of a second, blue flames licking at the wounded area and leaving behind only a tickling sensation on his skin, while his _Ability_ replaced the destroyed cells with new ones.

"Warned you..." He shrugged. Putting his hands back down, the pirate made his way to the middle of the ship at a steady pace, eyeing the soldiers in interest, who backed off every time he wandered a little too close.

"Now, would you mind to explain, why you´re attacking an innocent cargo vessel? I doubt this Crew has caused any harm to you." He questioned patiently.

"Since when do we have to justify ourselves to a filthy pirate!?"

"Maybe because you´re robbing me of my booty?" He had decided to stick to the version that he had dropped by randomly, if the Marines were actually dumb enough to believe that. Silence was the answer and Marco grew tired of waiting quickly, giving a deep sigh.

"Okay, so you have your reasons, I guess... Then, tell me your branch, yoi. That means, if you´re really Marines."

Haruta was right. The bigger part of the assaulters didn´t quite seem like they were seriously working for the Government, not with their shady clothing style. And again, there was nothing but silence.

Feeling slightly irritated, he revolved to face the crowd again, but paused as he saw the smirks on the soldiers´ faces. "What´s so funny?" He demanded.

In that moment a loud explosion went off somewhere behind him, heated air in the form of a giant blast hitting Marco abruptly and nearly throwing him off his feet.

He stumbled a few steps, before he was able to adjust to the now heavily wallowing ship bellow him, all the years beside the Tremor human preventing him from losing his footing entirely and falling to the ground, like it happened to the Marines. Marco´s eyes widened in shock. _Fuck!_

That wasn´t good, right behind him was...

He whirled around to take a look at the cargo vessel, or more correctly, the remains of the small ship. Dark smoke, mixed with flickering red flames, rose from the destroyed and slowly sinking hulk.

"Haruta!" Marco had his foot already placed on the railing, now throwing himself off the ship with full force. His body reacted on its own, turning him into a phoenix in the same movement and allowing him to fly above the seawater. A worried scream escaped his throat as he made his way to the ship.

_Just what had they done!_

He´d almost managed to reach the fuming wreckage as bubbles ascended from the surface right in front of him, forcing him to back-pedal and change his course.

A large black net shot out of the sea, directly aimed at the 1st Division Commander, who couldn´t react fast enough as he was still turning in mid-flight. The web wound around him in no time, making it impossible for the Phoenix to keep permanently airborne.

Marco panicked as the net pulled him further down relentlessly and the water came closer, way too fast to his liking. '_No, no, no, please don´t!'_  
Flapping desperately with his bound wings and screaming sharply, his talons made unavoidable contact with the salty liquid below, the sea robbing him of his power instantly and turning him human again.

A sickening feeling rose in his stomach at the brief moment of weightlessness, before the dark ocean swallowed him whole and the waves clashed over his head, leaving him with nothing but overwhelming silence.

His body stiffened at the eternal coldness, which grasped him brutally and his eyes went wide with horror. _Shit!_  
Paralyzed – partly from fear, partly from the _Akuma no Mi´s_ weakness – it took Marco some seconds, before his survival instincts kicked in and he tried to break through the surface.

His head shot out of the water a few frantic heartbeats later, arms flailing around uselessly and aimlessly, despairingly searching for something to grab hold of, while the net twisted even more around his vigorously struggling body.

He was trying to gasp for air, already coughing violently and spitting up seawater. One or two futile, weak cries for help left his lungs, directed at no one in particular, before he started to sink again, deeper.

This time, it was impossible to stick his head out. The cold water encompassed his body completely and made it hard for him to move, not to mention the tangled web around his body. Instead of resisting any further, Marco closed his eyes firmly and placed his hands above mouth and nose in an anxious attempt to keep what little air he had left in, praying silently for help, which he knew wouldn´t come.

It had been so long since he´d last fallen into the sea, he had almost forgotten how it felt like to drown. Now, he remembered. _Painfully._

The power leaving his body, the inability to move, the water pressure, the darkness, the lack of air, his furiously beating heart in his chest, the bottomless sea, to depend on someone else´s kindness...

Marco felt sick to his stomach, until a tug on his feet distracted him from his thoughts and he noticed his body started to move downwards.  
It took him some seconds to realize that someone was pulling the rope, which was attached to the net. But why the hell did it have to be _down_ instead of up?  
By now, all air had already left his lungs and an almost unbearable urge to breathe rose in his chest...

He had almost reached the point, where he was willing to give in to that desire, when he felt something soft and slippery against his back and Marco opened his eyes, only to see the wavering reflection of the sunlight on the surface far above his head. His stomach started to turn again.

As his body was further enwrapped in that slick substance, the pressure decreased and air surrounded him shortly afterwards. Blinking in surprise, he dropped down a few meters and hit solid ground, a pained groan leaving his throat at the sudden, hard impact. The blonde started to cough again, choking out little gasps of air. He curled into a ball as the pain racked through his body.

_Where the hell was he?_

* * *

Pressing her back firmly against the cold stone, Haruta clutched her side, grimacing with pain. She threw a quick look at her bloodstained hand and gritted her teeth, pressing down on her aching side again. These damn Marines with their filthy tricks, suddenly detonating a bomb on the vessel... When did they even place it there?

It had been pure luck, that she´d escaped the worst consequences by jumping down from the ship to chase the last soldiers away, which had started to retreat all too suddenly. Now she knew why...

Two commanding voices nearby had her startled and she ducked even more, trying to soften her pained gasps to stay undetected. A cautious glance around the corner confirmed her worst suspicions.

Some of the soldiers were already searching the remains of the ship, picking everything up that seemed valuable and taking her Crew captive. At least those, who were still _breathing_...

Haruta wanted to drive her saber through some Marines´ chests and rip them limb from limb so badly, but unfortunately, she´d lost her weapon in the previous explosion, which had sent her flying into the ocean.

Apart from that, she was heavily injured and there was a slight wheezing sound emanating from her throat as she struggled to breath. But just sitting by and watching idly was more than she could take.

She had already been forced to witness the capture of her older brother, his hopeless screams still resounding in her ears as he sank into the depths of the sea and Haruta teared up instantly.

_Pull yourself together, this isn´t the right time to cry_, she thought furiously.

She resisted the urge to slap herself, simply because that wouldn´t do any good to her throbbing headache. Blinking the tears away, she pushed off the stone silently, retreating as stealthy as possible to safety.

She knew it was totally insane to make any rescue attempts in her current state, so she did the only thing that made sense: getting help!

* * *

Marco tried to get up, still soaking wet and entangled in the net, when a foot suddenly pressed on his back and pushed him down again almost effortlessly.  
"Easy there, Mr. Commander..." An unfamiliar voice drawled.

Sprawled on the deck and attempting to suppress his coughing, the blonde tried to figure out to whom this voice belonged. Two things, he could already say for sure.

First, he was on a coated ship, what explained the slippery substance from earlier, plus the airbubble surrounding him.  
And second, the ships really belonged to Marines.

_Seems like I found the flag ship and the Vice Admiral, yoi, _he thought wryly.

As a few of the Marines knelt down beside him, grabbing his arms and feet roughly, Marco stiffened at first, but tried to wriggle his way out of the unwanted touch right after the shock wore off.

"Let go, yoi!" He demanded. The foot was lifted from his back and the net was removed as the blonde saw a man approach with shackles, handcuffs and leg irons.

_Oh hell no!_

Struggling with more effort, he begged silently for his _Ability_ to return in time, but he was still too drenched with seawater to have faith in that hope. He clenched his teeth as the Marine bent down, enchaining his wrists with the handcuffs and pulling his arms closer together in the process.

All of a sudden, Marco felt even more vulnerable than before, his vision starting to blur. "_Kairoseki_..." He whispered weakly.

"Well spotted!" The first voice he´d heard congratulated him.

Marco glanced to his side, a pair of light-brown boots stepping into his field of vision. Trying to look up further, he was able to make out white trousers and something like a trench coat in the same color. He didn´t have to see more. "Vergo..." He murmured.

The Vice Admiral knelt down beside him, lifted his hand and slapped Marco across the face with full force. "It´s Vergo-san." He corrected calmly.

The blonde froze for a moment. Did he really just...?

As the pain began to spread through his cheek and he was sure he hadn´t hallucinated the fact, that _he´d just been hit like a child_, the Commander saw red. "Hit me one more time and I´ll kill you, yoi!"

"I don´t think you´re in the right position to threaten me." The other man smirked.

Marco snarled at the Vice Admiral, who took the offered shackles from his subordinate and pulled on the chains, forcing the pirate to roll on his side, before he managed to dislocate his shoulder, which would have been more than painful with his _Ability_ currently gone.

Vergo guided his hands down his body towards his feet, suppressing every attempt to retrieve the limbs with brute force. Horrified, Marco felt a strong grip on his ankle only seconds later and he started to thrash around, trying to kick the dark-haired man. It was definitely not a good idea to get anymore enchained on a Marine ship.

"Let me go, yoi." He managed to hit the Vice Admiral with his still free foot in the shin, but screamed out as the other´s leg turned black only seconds before their bodies connected.

"No, not after finding such a marvelous and unexpected catch..." Vergo laughed and shook his head, apparently unimpressed by the kick.

The Commander bared his teeth, as he heard a clicking noise from the direction of his feet and felt a cold, heavy material grab his ankles in a relentless hold. _Fuck it!_

He wasn´t even able to move his arms and legs separately now, the whole construction giving him barely enough space to straighten up without having to flex his legs. As Vergo stood up and grabbed the connecting chain with his hand, the blonde´s limbs followed automatically.

"See? I told you we could take on one of Whitebeard´s Commanders, if we just make appropriate preparations." Marco looked up to see the Vice Admiral talk to one of his subordinates, who he recognized as the one with the Den-Den-Mushi from earlier. So that´s how it was...

"You mean by hiding underwater and playing dirty, yoi?" He spat with contempt.

Vergo´s head whipped towards him and he picked the Commander up by the chain, until his whole body dangled in the air. Marco kept his body tensed, returning a challenging look, until he was carelessly dropped to the floor. His back and head made painful contact with the hard wood below and he had to withhold a pained yelp.

He threw a death-glare at the dark-haired man, who smirked down on him with an arrogant expression on his visage, before he turned away, dragging him along the deck. Struggling and squirming against the shackles, the blonde tried to break free, but failed miserably, the _Kairoseki_ still robbing him of his power effectively. He watched as Vergo opened a door, which led inside the ship and pulled him down a long corridor, until they reached a staircase.

Marco´s sleepy eyes widened almost unnoticeably and he prepared for the pain, as he realized that the Vice Admiral wouldn´t stop to pick him up.

Without hesitating for a second, the taller man went downstairs, towing Marco along, who bit down on his lower lip to prevent any sound from leaving his throat, unwilling to give the Marine this satisfaction. His shoulder and hip scraped painfully over the rough angle and his back hit the first step, making him grimace, fist his hands and curl his toes.

The pirate threw a look of dread down the endless stairs, cursing inwardly as he saw the countless steps unfold in front of him. '_Just perfect, that will leave bruises, yoi...'_

He was dragged down the stairs continually, his lip bleeding slightly from the force of his teeth biting into it to keep his whimpers from escaping his mouth.

As they finally reached the end of the stairway, Marco felt as if he´d just gone several rounds with Ace and another couple more with Thatch. His entire body ached and he was positively sure he had broken some of his ribs. Panting heavily, he blinked away the forming tears.

Vergo didn´t seem to notice anything or maybe he just didn´t give a shit and just continued to tug him along, his heavy footsteps resounding in the dim corridor.

Marco tried desperately to keep his calmness through the pain and think straight._ 'This has to be the lowest level of the ship...'_ He threw a quick glance to his sides as they passed several empty cells. Although, from the darkness, he couldn´t tell for sure if they were really unoccupied.

He could barely make out anything from the meager light. There might were other captives hiding in the shadows, but he couldn´t hear a single sound, not even the sound of breathing.

Locking his gaze at the back of Vergo´s head, he wouldn´t be surprised if the Marines had just "conveniently" forgotten about them, leaving them to starve to their deaths. After all, this was the infamous G-5 he was talking about. They were well known for their cruelty and their tendency to torture any unfortunate pirates, they´d caught.

Shivering at that thought, Marco started to struggle again, ignoring the intensifying pain in his joints _and ribs_, concentrating instead on trying to rip the damn chains from Vergo´s grip. He realized his futile efforts, when the Vice Admiral came to a halt in front of an unoccupied, dark cell and dug into his pocket, pulling out a long, slender key.

The dark-haired unlocked the door and it made an ominous creaking noise as it swung open, allowing them to step inside. Dragging the still resisting Commander along a little rougher than necessary, he made his way to the back, where a horizontal steal bar protruded from the wall at chest height, a dark-brown leather strap dangling at the end.

The taller man stopped again and turned to face Marco, who snarled at the Marine, but ceased his actions, when he heard distorted laughter echoing down the hallway, which became more and more apparent. Tilting his head in said direction, the blonde was able to distinguish several footsteps, some of them limping and stumbling.

Judging from the sound volume, the approaching men must have almost reached his section of the corridor. When they finally passed his cell, Marco went pale. Those men that just went past...

Haruta´s Division!

These damn Marines were leading a few of Haruta´s men down the hallway and towards their appointed cells. Most of the pirates seemed pretty battered, their torn clothes and bleeding wounds indicating the severity of the injuries. Marco knew that the brunette had set sail with at least sixteen men under her command, now he was only able to count nine of his brothers.

Revolving to his tormentor, Marco´s expression hardened and he locked gaze with the Vice Admiral, who returned an equally cold look. "Let them go, yoi!" He growled, a dangerous undertone resonating in the Commander´s voice.

"No." Vergo replied in a bored tone.

Marco thrashed around, as furiously as his ribs enabled him to. His lips pulled back into an angry snarl as he spat out, "They have nothing to do with this!"

"They´re pirates, just like you." Vergo smiled, peering down at him. "This is Justice. We must eliminate any possibility of 'evil' that exists."

"Since when do you care about justice, yoi?" Marco sneered.

"Watch your tongue..." With that warning, Vergo loosened his grip around the chain and switched to the handcuffs instead, lifting the smaller male up as if he was a feather.

Bucking with all his strength and ignoring the burning pain in his chest, Marco tried to squirm his way out of Vergo´s relentless hold, until a hand wrapped around his throat, successfully preventing any further struggles. The blonde shut his eyes and ground his teeth as the grip tightened and clogged his respiratory tract, leaving him gasping for breath.

'_Fuck...!'_

Marco surrendered as he was dragged sideways, not even resisting as something hard scraped against his neck and a rough fabric encircled his throat. He heard a metallic clatter and the unknown object around his neck narrowed threateningly, nearly asphyxiating him in the process.

Immediately, Vergo´s grip slackened and Marco desperately gulped in air for several moments.

After the bright, dancing stars behind his eyelids had faded and he was sure, he wouldn´t pass out, the blonde opened his eyes again and registered instantly, that he was unable to move. He stood slightly stooped, his feet on the ground forcing his arms to remain mostly extended and as he tried to straighten up, the object around his throat prevented him from doing so.

Marco´s eyes wandered around the cell for a second. Judging from his position in the room, he was most likely trapped in that ominous leather strap, he´d noticed on the bar before. His brows furrowed in anger and he raised his head to meet Vergo´s gaze. It was disgusting, the way the Vice Admiral watched him with that infuriatingly satisfied expression.

They glared at each other for a long time and even though no words were spoken, it was clear who came out top when Marco finally averted his eyes in resignation. He had to admit, there was no way he could get out of this anymore, whether he liked it or not and somehow, he felt like the lives of his remaining brothers were on the line as well.

"That´s a good boy..." Marco jerked as Vergo´s hand dropped down on his head and ruffled his damp hair, until the blonde locks stuck out in all directions.  
"Stop that, yoi!" He snapped.  
Glaring up at the taller man, he watched the Vice Admiral fish in his pocket, until he pulled out a karabiner and bent down wordlessly in front of him.

An unpleasant feeling settled in the Commander´s guts as Vergo hooked the chain into the karabiner. A heartbeat later, his feet were pulled coarsely. Sagging into the strap with his full weight, the rough leather around Marco´s throat tightened even more, causing him to choke violently.

He could swear he´d heard a "Taichou!" from somewhere down the hallway, but was too busy trying to _breathe _through the pain to respond. He barely noticed the Vice Admiral attaching the karabiner to a pendant on the cell´s ground, forcing Marco´s legs to keep outstretched at full length.

_Air! He needed air!_

Straightening his back with all his strength and reclining his head, he tried to reduce the pressure on his pharynx and succeeded as he slowly regained oxygen. Now staring at the dark ceiling, the Commander took a few deep breaths, ignoring the burning pain in his protesting shoulders, which got pulled down his body dangerously far by the extremely short chain and damn, his ribs ached like hell!

"This will keep you from doing anything stupid, won´t it?" The dark-haired commented idly, as if he was discussing the weather, while stepping back to admire his work.

Marco´s gaze wandered to his side, where he could scarcely make out Vergo´s figure from the corner of his eye. Tilting his head was simply impossible in this position and he could feel his legs starting to tremble due to his uncomfortable posture.

"Well, have a pleasant stay..." He heard more than saw the Vice Admiral turn around and leave the cell, locking the heavy door from the outside. Vergo walked down the hallway together with the other Marines, who seemed quite cheerful, the echo of their blithe conversations slowly fading in the distance.

A quiet moment passed, where Marco closed his eyes. The only sounds remaining were his weak wheezing and the blood pulsating in his ears at a rapid speed.  
_He had to calm down._

When he was sure his voice wouldn´t fail him, he spoke up. "Is everyone alright?"  
"It could be better." The Commander opened his eyes again, trying to connect a face to the raspy voice, coming somewhere from his right.  
'_Maybe Taro?'_ He couldn´t tell for sure.

"I´m okay." Another voice he was familiar with. _'Must be Sam´s...'  
_"Jiro is unconscious." One of his Nakama reported worried, judging from the tone, it could be Nobu.  
"Is he still breathing, yoi?" Marco asked, silently counting his brothers.

"Yes, but heavily bleeding." Was the reply. The conversation ceased for a moment and the blonde could hear someone ripping a strip of fabric off his shirt. "Here, bandage him with that."  
'_That´s Masa. Makes five out of nine.'_

"Marco Taichou?" Someone, definitely Yugo, piped up hesitantly. The blonde forced his mind to stay alert and answered, "What is it?"  
"What about you? Are you okay?"  
_No, he was not..._

"I´m fine, yoi!" He lied. If his feet slipped in this position, he would strangle himself to death and judging from the already cramping muscles in his legs and back, this was going to be a long ride indeed...

* * *

So, you´re done for now. Hope you enjoyed so far :)

I´m pretty sure you already guessed it. There will be 9 original characters in the next chapter, but don´t panic. It´s not important to know who is who and who is saying what. That would be a little too much to expect... I just named them to make clear, that there are different people interacting and it would be too confusing to write somebody, someone and so on...

Was there something else I wanted to say...? Oh, right. Tell me, what you think about it ^^  
Any comment will be appreciated.


	2. Day 1 (Part Two)

Hey guys :D Here I am again with chapter 2. Sorry for the delay. I got kinda busy with work and tried out a new sport, it´s called Capoeira. I´ll think twice, before I go to a training again, if I end up with unbearable muscle soreness for two days every time... But it was really fun. I can only recommend to anyone who hasn´t tried it yet, to do so. There are insanely amazing videos on youtube, you should check them out by chance.

I´d also like to give a special spot for _Stuff'n'Stuff_, who took pity on me and edited this chapter. I actually had in mind to introduce her at a particular time, but well... If any of you have at least some seconds of your life to spare, go and read her stories. You won´t regret a single word!

Now to my seven reviewers from the previous chapter: Come here, line up and let me hug you! Thanks for encouraging me to keep writing determined. And you, LadyUzuScarlet, let me hug you again. You know for what. Your PMs always brought a smile to my face ^_^

I´d also like to thank all followers and favoriters so far. Maybe I´ll be able to tickle a review out of you this time XD As always, every opinion is welcome.

Somewhere in this chapter you´ll stumble upon a **(*)**. There´s a note on the bottom to explain the mentioned things further.

**Warnings for this chapter:** Torture, violence, bondage, angst and mild blood, mild language.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing.

* * *

Cold...

Marco flexed his back carefully, just a little bit, so the adhesive jacket would detach from his spine with some luck. The once drenched clothes now stuck to his body like a second skin, causing the blonde to shiver in the chilly air.

Straightening up again, he bit his lip, grimacing at the throbbing pain in his ribs. He really missed his _Ability_ to regenerate and heal his wounds.

A quiet whimper escaped his throat as his legs suffered another cramp, his pained voice sounding far too loud in the uncomfortable silence.

"If you´re hurt, you should have told us..." Marco´s eyes wandered to the side, where the faint voice had originated from. If he had to guess, he´d say Ken was sitting in the cell directly next to him.

He suppressed a sigh, even if it was only because any kind of breathing caused his ribs and shoulders to ache.

"I´m not hurt, yoi..." He denied fiercely. There was no point in making his siblings worry about him, even if his muscles felt like they would snap any second. After all, he was the only one who would heal, as soon as he got rid of these damn shackles.

"Of course not." Masa muttered sarcastically.

Marco´s brows furrowed in anger. They had no right to fear for him, since they would have to deal with their injuries much longer and they didn´t complain about it either.

"It´s not for you to decide whether I´m hurt or not!" He snarled, perhaps a little too harsh as immediate silence fell over the gathered men again.

Hours must have passed since the Marines had brought them below and by now, Marco´s nerves were on edge. Somewhere on an uninhabited archipelago in the New World were seven of his brothers and Haruta, without water, food or a ship, all of them most likely badly injured _or maybe even dead_ and the only ones who knew about the precarious situation were down here with him.

Damn, it was his duty as First Mate to guarantee their safety, yet they were completely annihilated by Vergo and his Crew, because he was too careless and underestimated them!

He refused to even think about the tortures that might be awaiting them all, just because he´d acted like an inexperienced rookie!

The blonde clenched his teeth, the tension in his body rising.

_This whole situation was his fucking fault alone!_

Sighing inwardly, he forced his hands to open the unintentionally formed fists and scolded himself for these thoughts. They weren´t taking him anywhere and the least he could do now, was to ensure that his present brothers were able to escape and get help.

"I´m sorry, yoi..." He apologized for snapping at the others. It wasn´t fair to vent his foul mood on his siblings when they were simply concerned about him.

"Forget about it. We´re all worried." In his mind´s eye, Marco could see Masa waving the subject off and it brought a little smile to his face, which disappeared instantly when he registered footsteps.

"Someone´s coming!" Nobu hissed and their conversation ceased immediately.

Marco listened intensely, since he was still unable to see the corridor from his position. There were around six people approaching without haste, most likely Marines. Including them was a heavier pair, which could possibly belong to only one man. So Vergo was among them. That couldn´t mean anything good.

In this moment, a sudden tremor caused the ship to jolt and had Marco startled, distracting his thoughts from the advancing soldiers as his feet slid over the ground and he gasped surprised. His body sagged down dangerously far, the strap already tightening around his throat. Panicking, his first instinct was to grab the leather and draw it away, which was dutifully prevented by the chains.

Another cramp and Marco squirmed, a pained cry escaping his lips, before his muscles finally gave way and he slumped.

The strap blocked his respiratory tract outright, leaving him desperately gasping for breath and unable to voice out his dread.

His fingers twitched frantically but uselessly, tugging at the shackles with full strength, while he fought for air and tried to recline his head or get a better grip with his feet to straighten up again.

_No chance!_

Every effort was in vain and dark spots started to appear in his vision. He neither noticed the footsteps coming to a halt, nor how the door was unlocked.

He was already so far gone that he barely registered his visitor, who stepped into his cell. Despairingly searching for any help, the Commander looked up and met Vergo, who stood there totally unmoving with his hands folded behind his back, visibly entertained by the Commander´s wasted efforts, since he was apparently loosing the fight.

The uncaring gaze of the Marine rested on the blonde, while he watched him in his struggles for survival. Marco bit his lip, giving a last attempt to do something, _anything_.

_Useless._

His vision started to darken and blur evenly, contorting the broad form of the Vice Admiral and the room around him.

The worried shouts of his Nakama ebbed more and more, while he drifted into unconsciousness and eventually his death.

'_Seems like I won´t be able to break anyone free. I´m sorry, guys...'_

His eyes shut and with the last tension leaving his body, he sank completely into the strap, embracing the inevitable darkness...

* * *

Marco stirred slightly in his doze, a pained moan leaving his lips when he registered the stabbing headache. Attempting to rub the aching spot, he lifted his hand slowly, since any sudden movement could double the pain.

He had to stop when his arm was restricted by something really heavy, which produced a rattling sound. Furrowing his brows in incomprehension, he opened his eyes labouredly and blinked in the dim light.

Damn, he felt like he´d just received a scolding smack on the head from his father... A _Haki_ infused smack...

Lowering his gaze onto his limbs, he stared at the shackles for a few seconds before realization hit him and he sat up, his headache totally forgotten. What happened? Where was he?

His eyes scanned the surroundings hastily to find any hints of his whereabouts. Tacking the thick steel bars as indicator, he would say he was still locked up, even though this was definitely another cell. The former had consisted of mostly plain material, not these roughly built, dark stone walls that swallowed the meager light, coming from an old flickering bulb, even more. Marco shivered in the cold air, his partly wet clothes providing him with almost no warmth.

His thoughts faltered for a moment. Wet...?

Confused, he turned around, only to find a small gathering of a shimmering fluid and his eyes followed the stream to its source, which turned out to be a tiny leak in the stone´s cement on the back wall. The liquid ran over the ground, exactly in the path where he´d been lying.

'_Water?'_

Scooting aside, he tried to spare himself the pain of drenching his trousers any further. Was he really underwater? Just where had these Marines brought him?

"Taichou?" The blonde twitched, his heart picking up on pace, when an unbelieving voice suddenly called out and he turned in the appropriate direction. He had to look closer to discern the dark area behind the bars, but calmed down when he was scarcely able to make out three of his Nakama across from him, each one of them sitting in their own cell and returning his look baffled.

Veit, the one who had addressed him, broke out in a wide grin as he turned to look at something to Marco´s right side. "Oi, he´s awake!" The relieved shout resulted in rustling sounds, as if several people were sitting up simultaneously. The blonde shifted his weight to lean forwards, hissing quietly and squinting one eye at the burning pain in his ribs. He clutched his side, but didn´t pay it more attention, as a short glance around the corner revealed even more occupied cells. He was able to make out five cubicles, six at best, before the wall to his side blocked his view. Still, it seemed like all his brothers were gathered when different voices piped up.

"Marco-Taichou!" Yugo sounded relieved and worried at the same time and the Commander wondered how the newest Division Member always managed such a tone. Judging from the direction the voice was coming from, he could be two cells next to him and therefore out of sight.

"Finally!" That was Ren.

"We started to worry about you!" Masa was apparently sitting directly next to him. Marco gave a small, but somewhat sad smile and took a more comfortable position, crossing his legs and dropping his arms in his lap. This allowed him to move more unrestrictedly.

"Where are we, yoi?" He trailed off and his hand shot up to his throat in disbelief. Was that him talking? For real?

He must have hurt his vocal cords for his voice to sound so scratchy and he tried to clear his throat, still slightly confused. Now that he thought about it, swallowing actually did quite hurt...

Sam laughed before he answered, "We´re at the G-5 Base. They got us down here maybe three hours ago."

The blonde´s eyes widened at that blunt statement. "I was out for three hours?"

"Out for three hours? We thought you were dead!" Taro gesticulated wildly in the air, seeming relatively lively.

"You didn´t even twitch as that damn Vice Admiral pulled you up the stairs!" Nobu commented, obviously calmer than his brother.

Well, that explained his dreadfully throbbing headache.

"Seriously, don´t make us worry so much!" Jiro shook his head.

Marco smiled mildly, noticing that it was he, who had been unconscious a few hours ago, but didn´t voice it. Instead, he was glad his brother had finally woken up.

"Sorry, yoi." He croaked a halfhearted excuse.

By now, his eyes had adjusted to the sparse light and he was able to make out more details about the room. It seemed to be a round and rather high-ceilinged one with several robust cells embedded in the wall. To his left was the beginning of a dark corridor, most likely the one they´d been led through on their way in. Letting his gaze wander around, Marco stopped at something amidst the room, which he couldn´t quite classify. It seemed to be made of different plain wooden boards, levers and a few gear-wheels, indicating for moveable parts. He could also see a pair of steel shackles and cuffs on each end of the mechanism.

A lump started to form in his throat when he finally recognized the machine.

"Is that... a rack?" Why hadn´t he noticed earlier?

"Apparently."

Marco couldn´t tell, which one of his brothers had answered him and he didn´t really care. What he did care about, was the threatening danger it brought along and he swallowed dryly, his thoughts starting to race through his head and he had to reprimand himself to stay cool.

'_Let´s see what we have left to work with...'_

So they were at G-5. That wasn´t exactly good news. It was crucial to get out of the Marine Base and the Vice Admiral´s grip, best before someone got strapped onto this intimidating torture instrument.

"Are we alone, yoi?" Trying to maintain his level-headedness, at least on the outside, Marco spoke up, only then remembering his damaged cords. The rise and fall of his voice didn´t quite grant him with the impression of calmness and he bit his lower lip in annoyance. However, nobody laughed at him this time. Instead, Masa spoke up, "Yeah, they just locked us up and left. There´s no one nearby and we couldn´t find any Surveillance Den-Den-Mushi either. We´re currently in the basement, three levels down from the first floor. There´s a steal door blocking our way out. Vergo had the key in his right pocket."

Marco gave a small smile at his brother´s words. The older pirate sure had the potential of a leader and if they weren´t monitored at the moment, things should be considerably easier. Still, there were other things he needed to know first.

"Is everyone awake?" Nine voices answered positively at once. That was reassuring in its own way.

"Who´s unable to walk, yoi?"

"We all can." Veit declared with a confirming nod. One thing less to worry about. After they would have managed to break free, they wouldn´t have to bother with dragging one or two Nakama along. And from what Marco had seen before, none of his siblings was shackled. That left them with one bigger problem...

Lifting his hands, the blonde brought the cuffs closer to his face and inspected them accurately. There was a small lock in each of the robust manacles and another one at the point where the chain connected to the other shackle. He gave the leg irons a short glance, only to find the same construction.

Now, that was interesting. So there was an option to separate the different pieces, which would grant him more flexibility as a start. But for that, he needed the key or at least something similar, a lock pick for example.

"What do we have left, yoi? Any items, tools?" He asked no one in particular, eyes still focused on the cuffs. There was a short pause in which he grew anxious and Marco looked up, brows furrowed. "I´m listening..."

It was Ren who took pity on the blonde and answered, "There´s nothing remaining. They literally stripped us off everything we had and solely put our clothes back on..." He commented dryly.

Marco chewed on his inner cheek thoughtfully, while digesting the recently learned, which definitely belonged to the things he didn´t want to know in detail. Well, he already guessed that Vergo wouldn´t be so dumb as to make such a mistake. So the opportunity of picking the locks fell flat.

Letting his gaze wander around his cell, he searched for anything else that could help them in their task. The only things he came up with were a whole bunch of hooks and karabiners hammered into the walls at different places. How promising...

Marco´s ears twitched when they caught the sound of a creaking door somewhere in the distance and for the second time on this day, several approaching footsteps followed. Curious, but with a somewhat uneasy feeling, he tilted his head to the left side and leaned forwards, supporting his weight with his hands on his thighs.

Throwing a short glance into the corridor, he was met with nothing but darkness, so the blonde listened closer. By now, he knew Vergo´s step and pace well enough to discern the slightly heavier and intimidating ones from the other Marines. It was wiser to meet the Vice Admiral standing.

With this decision, the Commander grabbed the bars as assistance, trying hard to stumble to his feet as his abused body made this quite difficult for him. His ribs still ached and would probably do that for the next few days, minimum. In addition to that relatively dangerous injury, the bruises from his harsh acquaintance with the ship´s staircase had started to form and were only hindering his movements further, not to mention his headache.

When the Marines, two soldiers led by Vergo, finally came in sight, the Commander had at least managed to straighten up.

Keeping track of the dark-haired suspiciously, he watched him come to a halt in front of the rack, his obviously bored gaze wandering slowly over the room´s inhabitants. When he stopped at his cell, Marco snarled.

"Recovered from your little pass-out?" The deep voice resonated in the silence, sending shivers down the blonde´s spine.

The Commander´s eyes narrowed and he felt rage boil up. How he hated the Vice Admiral for hurting his brothers and sister!

"Get to the point, yoi!" He wasn´t in the mood to play any games the Marine may thought were fun.

Vergo smirked, apparently unimpressed by the rough words and instead amused at the high-pitched tone. "No need to rush things. Starting today, we´ll have enough time to get to know each other pretty well." The Vice Admiral stated threateningly and Marco clenched his teeth in response.

Turning his attention back to the other pirates, Vergo decided to mock them a little longer before he had to get serious. "So, I take it you´re all Whitebeard´s sons, hm? Who would´ve thought we´d stumble on something like this?"

For a brief moment, Marco thought about denying it. There was no way for him to get out of here like that, but maybe his brothers could...

He dismissed the idea as fast as it had come to his mind. There was no way Vergo would believe any of them and if they´d been stripped, he should´ve seen Whitebeard´s mark on most of them. His eyes shot to his right, when someone spoke up.

"What did you expect, when you assaulted us? Merchants?" Masa asked warily, but was interrupted by Marco´s commanding "_Be quiet_".

The more attention the blonde could keep away from the other Division Members, the better.

Vergo´s answer, though, left everyone in the room dumbfounded for a split second, while the Marine´s face stayed totally emotionless. "Honestly, yes."

The blonde couldn´t stop himself from looking the man up and down with an unbelieving expression, before he replied, "You would assault merchants with three ships, yoi? Isn´t that a little excessive?"

His question brought a dismissive smile to the Vice Admiral´s face and he turned to look at him.

"As you might´ve noticed, it was highly appropriate in this case." He reminded the Commander calmly of their current situation.

Marco frowned at the dark-haired, understanding the meaning of the words all too well and his subconsciousness used the opportunity to scold him for his failures again. Pushing the depressing thoughts aside, he concentrated on the person in front of him.

"Aren´t you Marines supposed to _protect_ merchants from assaulters, yoi?"

"I have no reason to answer that, Commander. But since you´re definitely _not_ merchants, no one will question my actions."

Marco bit his lip, restraining himself from chewing on it, since it would only show his concern. Vergo was right. They were all outlaws and therefore couldn´t expect any help, neither from the Marines, nor from the Government. There was only the possibility of their father coming to their rescue, but Marco considered this as unlikely.

When he heard the Vice Admiral clear his throat, he looked back up, focusing on the dark-haired, who´d turned to address all inhabitants. It seemed like Vergo had played around enough for the moment and was finally coming down to business.

"As you might´ve assumed, there´s a specific reason we kept some of you alive. I´ll give you five days to tell me everything I want to know. You don´t have to wait for your turn, if any of you feels like talking, so don´t be shy. It could spare your friends quite some pain. If you´re all incompliant in the end, I´ll judge each one of you with his own adequate punishment, which in the majority of your cases contains a very painful, slow death."

His last words hung in the air like thick mist and Marco swallowed dryly. That didn´t sound good at all!

The dark-haired turned to face the two soldiers, who´d stood by his side silently and unmoving for the whole time and the blonde registered their joyful smile with horror.

"Start with Cell 1. I´ll take Cell 10..."

Marco´s eyes wandered between Vergo and the two Marines as they split up. The soldiers made their way to Veit´s cell, while the Vice Admiral headed directly towards him.

Taking a faltering step back, Marco quickly went through the remaining options in his head. In fact he could only choose whether to attack or not and he should decide fast. He still needed the key for his shackles and cuffs from the dark-haired and this could be his only chance. Assuming Vergo really _had_ the item, since he hadn´t seen him pocketing it after his enchainment. In fact, he hadn´t seen the key to his chains at all.

The key for the cell, though, was in Vergo´s right pocket as he saw the Vice Admiral pull it out. Including Masa´s information from earlier, the dark-haired might be storing important items there in general, so he should definitely give it a try if he had the chance.

Letting the Marine step into his small prison, Marco watched him relock the door and turn towards him, drawing a bamboo stick of medium length from his belt in the same movement.

The blonde backed off a little more, when Vergo tapped the weapon in his hand at a slow pace.

"Well, Mister Commander of the First Division and Whitebeard´s First Mate, if I had to guess, I´d say you have the most valuable pieces of information... So, let´s start our little interrogation, shall we?"

Marco snarled intimidatingly, eyes locked with the slender stick. He´d heard rumors about "Demon Bamboo" Vergo and it just seemed like he would get to experience first-hand which were true and which not.

"That´s a nice collar you´re sporting there..."

Marco looked up when the deep and calm voice interrupted his thoughts and he furrowed his brows in incomprehension. What collar?

He suppressed the urge to run his fingers over the skin on his throat. He knew there was nothing. A collar would feel-

The leather strap!

'_So it left bruises after all...'_

Vergo had apparently known what crossed his mind as he smirked down on the smaller blonde. "Want me to add some more?"

When the bamboo turned black, Marco swallowed heavily. _Busoshoku Haki_... This could get ugly.

"What do you want, yoi?" He gave it his best to keep his voice from trembling. It wasn´t a good idea to make his fear known to the Vice Admiral.

"As I said, information. Knowledge is power... So, would you be so kind as to share some with me?"

"Sure. Always take a pair of extra socks on vacation."

The first blow came out of the blue, hitting his cheekbone with high accuracy and causing the blonde to scream out in pain. His head collided with the wall to his side and Marco slumped a little, his hands quickly supporting his weight on the stones. His ears rang deafeningly from the impact and there was a sharp pain stretching over one half of his face. _'Seems like he has no sense of humor at all...'_

He forced his eyes back open and pushed off the wall with trembling limbs, returning Vergo´s challenging stare, unwilling to give up just yet. He hated to be smaller than the Marine, though.

"If you treat me with such disrespect ever again, I´ll make sure the next bone I break will be an important one. Am I making myself clear, Phoenix?" The Vice Admiral growled, pointing the end of his weapon directly between the blonde´s eyes.

Marco felt his cheek swell up with alarming speed and a warm liquid streamed down his face from his nose, dripping either onto his chest or the ground. Judging from the immense pain right under his eye and the steady flow of blood, Vergo had shattered his cheekbone with one single strike.

Tasting the iron-flavored liquid in his mouth, he decided to take the threat serious.

When the pirate stayed silent, the dark-haired seemed pleased in some way and he lowered the bamboo stick, even though it remained black. "So let´s try this again, shall we? What were you doing on that vessel?"

"Holiday." Marco responded.

There was no chance to prepare for the next strike, which landed on his forehead just as hard as the previous one and the Commander saw stars blinking in front of his eyes. The next time he registered things around him consciously, his body had stumbled a few steps back, now leaning against the solid walls in one of the corners.

At least, he was still standing.

"Don´t lie to me. What were you doing?" Vergo closed the gap between them and Marco tried to straighten up again desperately. He wouldn´t last long if this continued.

"Why do you want to know, yoi?" He spat out, pain already evident in his voice, but he didn´t care.

"It´s me, who´s asking the questions. You better accept that now."

When Vergo raised his hand again, the blonde tried to guard his face with his arms, but failed as the shackles prevented him from lifting his limbs. Another whack, this time on his temple and he dropped to the ground, nearly blacking out for a second.

Gnashing his teeth repeatedly, he tried to fight off the drowsiness, which slowly crept into his mind. He didn´t trust his cervicals enough to actually shake his head.

_Maybe I should consider myself lucky to still have all my teeth_, he thought ironically.

The first thing he saw after forcing his eyes back open, were Vergo´s trousers and Marco looked up, meeting the Vice Admiral´s stare through the dark sunglasses.

"Learned your lesson yet?" The taller man seemed just as collected as he´d been at the beginning of their mainly one-sided conversation and the blonde saw his chances to scrounge for the keys fading with every passing second.

When the Commander didn´t show any signs of answering his question, Vergo grew impatient, raising his hand again.

Pulling his knees to his chest, Marco lifted his arms and buried his head in the two limbs. If he received more blows like the previous ones, he would lose his consciousness soon, which he wanted to prevent at all cost.

When the expected hit stayed absent and instead, he felt something tug on his chains, Marco opened his eyes again. Horrified, he saw Vergo winding the shackles around one of his feet and in the next second, plant it back on the floor firmly, unavoidably towing his makeshift protection along and pinning his limbs to the ground. The blonde looked up, a slight trace of fear showing in his eyes, additionally to the pain he already was in.

In this moment, Veit screamed out and Marco´s blood run cold. _He´d totally forgotten about that!_

Ignoring the Vice Admiral, he tried to catch a glimpse of his Nakama´s cell, but was quickly detained from doing so, when the hardened bamboo got placed under his chin roughly, forcing him to look back up by increasing the pressure on the base of his mouth until it was almost painful.

"I´m here..." Vergo sneered, amused.

Marco clenched his teeth, tearing on his shackles to regain them from the Vice Admiral´s foot, but the Marine had already proven several times that he had the upper hand as long as _Kairoseki_ was involved. His struggles only brought a dismissive smile to the other´s face and he clenched some more.

"Leave him be!" Marco demanded, feeling the weapon press against the base of his mouth with each word. Vergo simply shook his head, still forcing the Commander to keep eye contact.

"You have no authority here, so get used to it. Next question. What is Whitebeard´s current location?"

The blonde´s brows furrowed almost unnoticeably, anger still written on his face. What did the dark-haired want from his father?

"I don´t know, yoi." He responded, sounding as honest as if he really didn´t. He wouldn´t be so dumb as to talk about the Yonkou.

He´d anticipated another blow to the head, but instead, he felt the bamboo scrape over his skin and seconds later, the end pressed against his throat, suffocating him effectively.

Marco tried to back off intuitively, while Vergo simply followed, until the back of his head touched the wall behind him, trapping him in this position.

The Vice Admiral seemed totally unimpressed by his victim´s fearful expression. "His weak spots?" He questioned in a grave tone, fist clenching around the bamboo visibly, like he had to restrain himself from beating the Commander to a pulp instantly.

Marco gave a choke as response, eyes widened from pain and fright. And again, he heard Veit scream and wondered for a heartbeat, if he had to go through the same ordeal.

"I don´t know." He managed to squeeze out after a second of hesitation, his voice barely audible. If Vergo didn´t slacken the pressure soon, he would really pass out.

Fortunately, the Marine withdrew the weapon in this moment, allowing the Commander to breathe again. While he was still focused on heaving some air into his lungs, the violent strike – aimed at his broken ribs - hit him totally unexpected and his vision turned black. Marco screamed out, the cry almost getting stuck in his throat halfway through.

After a brief moment of almost spastic jolts racking his body, he finally managed a ragged gasp that sent heavy tremors through his beaten form.

"So they were broken, just as I thought."

Marco couldn´t even muster the strength to look up. His eyes were still pressed together just as his teeth and he could feel his facial muscles twitch from the agony.

Vergo watched with morbid amusement, how the Commander shook and quivered in the corner, before he pulled his leg back to reclaim the pirate´s attention. The tug caused the shivering blonde to crumble to the ground entirely, limbs still forcefully extended and totally useless.

Marco winced faintly as his ribs made contact with the cold stone, the pressure sending new waves of pain through his body, but at least he managed to stay conscious. However, a part of his mind was insisting to give in to the welcoming and soothing darkness. But he couldn´t surrender. Not now, not here, _not yet_, or he would be at Vergo´s mercy without even the slightest chance of defending himself or his brothers.

He tried to prop his upper body on his forearms, when something pressed down on his head relentlessly and he couldn´t restrain the pained cry as he was forced back to the floor, his broken cheekbone encountering the unwavering stones with full force. Blood began to flow anew.

When Vergo spoke up, his voice seemed so far away, that the blonde couldn´t tell for sure, if he´d heard right. "You´re not so cheeky anymore, huh, Phoenix? Are you still awake?" The words were blurred and cushioned through the shoe that kept his face glued to the hard ground. He didn´t respond.

"Answer me!" The Vice Admiral growled dangerously and lifted his foot, much to the Commander´s surprise.

The fierce kick into his stomach only a heartbeat later, forced the last air from his lungs and Marco spat blood, eyes going wide from the brute strength of the impact, before his body doubled over to ease the agonizing pain in his guts.

A black leg was the first thing he registered consciously. _Haki_ again. No wonder the assault was _this_ hurting.

When Vergo pulled back again, Marco braced for another kick that followed instantly, hitting the same spot as before and he bit back the scream that wanted to break loose at all cost. His abdominal muscles were already cramping violently and the blonde fought with what little strength he had left to retrieve his limbs from the Marine´s hold. Vergo didn´t seem impressed to say the least, while he prepared for another kick. At this point, Marco just wanted to curl into a ball and protect his organs from whatever evil might come at them.

The third blow was aimed more at his bowels and left the Commander gasping for breath, his body convulsing unwillingly.

"I´m still waiting for answers, pirate!" Vergo hissed, apparently pissed off by his victim´s stubborn behavior.

Marco closed his eyes firmly, as if he could block the pain out by doing so. "I´m not giving you any, yoi!" The words were forced and slurred from the agonizing pain he was in.

The Vice Admiral simply shrugged uninterestedly and raised his leg, slamming the limb down in a flash. He repeated the action over and over again, not really paying attention to the excruciated screams, like the heavily writhing bundle beneath him wasn´t even human.

When Vergo finally stopped after what seemed like an eternity of sharp and almost unbearable pain for Marco, he had died down to weak whimpers and winces. His eyes were already unfocused and his vision blurred from the ascended tears. Even though he was able to keep them from falling down with pure willpower, it was about the only thing he could do at the moment. His whole body was in so much pain, that it was going numb slowly, his thoughts clouded by a thick haze. He registered the Vice Admiral speaking to him only on the brink of awareness and he needed some time to process the words.

"As much as I´d love to listen to your voice the whole day, I have other things to attend to. How about you just tell me what I want to know? Three questions aren´t such a big deal, are they?"

Even if it meant to endure the agony for a while longer, Marco forced his mind back into consciousness and looked up, too dazed to make out any details about the Marine´s face.

His broken ribs hurt so much and his lungs were almost quitting their work, his whole body trembling involuntarily from the Vice Admiral´s cruel treatment. Somewhere in the back of his head, the blonde registered Veit´s screams and after he´d listened closer, was able to discern the agitated shouts of his remaining brothers. Since when were they screaming at the Marines to leave them alone?

"I-I won´t..." Marco managed to stutter after a few more moments of catching his breath.

"Pity..."

The Commander couldn´t see the Vice Admiral´s smile, but he knew it was there nonetheless, while he watched the dark-haired lift his foot again. He closed his eyes in useless preparation before the strike came down with destructive force.

Marco felt more than heard his ribs break under the vicious kick and he opened his mouth for a scream, even though not a single tone left his lips as his throat tightened painfully and wouldn´t let up again.

For a moment, it was as if time had frozen. He didn´t even feel pain anymore. There was just the immediate lack of oxygen and his extremely panicking brain. When his lung gave a wheezing sound, his eyes widened in naked terror. Then the pain returned with all might.

Trying to take in a gulp of air, the blonde fought to supply his body with the important element, but almost failed. Something gripped his chest in an ice-cold hold and constricted around his heart, intending to crush it. This was worst case.

Judging from the way his breath rattled, his shattered ribs had damaged his lung, most likely causing a pneumothorax.**(*)**

_Fuck, he could die from this shit!_

It took Marco some seconds to realize, that Vergo had knelt down beside him, but when he did, his eyes shot up in absolute horror, pupils already widened to twice their usual size from the sudden burst of adrenaline rushing through his body.

The Vice Admiral gave a light chuckle at his victim´s terrified expression and reached for his face, causing the Commander to back off, until the wall behind him blocked his improvised escape route. _How futile._

Rough fingers dug into the flesh on Marco´s cheeks, forcing his mouth open after only a short moment of resistance. The pressure near his fracture was simply too painful to endure.

Gloved fingers placed something small on his tongue, maybe a pill.

Just when the blonde was about to spit the thing out, a hand sealed his mouth and nose, effectively preventing his breathing.

Marco´s first instinct was to thrash around in a desperate attempt to shake the limb off, yet the movement alone caused him enough agony to cease the action immediately. By now, his heart was beating furiously in his chest, like it wanted to break free from the ribcage´s confining hold and it took his all to keep himself from freaking out. Still, he needed the air, even more with his damaged lung and Marco squeezed his eyes shut, trying one last time to retrieve his bound hands.

Finally acknowledging his defeat, he forced himself to swallow, eyes closed in hopeless resignation. _How he hated the Marines!_

Vergo withdrew his hand immediately, allowing the Commander to breathe again and instead, changed to the top of his head, patting the locks softly, like he wanted to compliment him. "Try to recover from that until tomorrow. Otherwise, it wouldn´t be any fun."

Marco opened his eyes only a slit, breath still coming in an almost hyperventilating pace and he kept track of the Vice Admiral´s whereabouts cautiously as he stood up and untwined his foot from the chain, retreating after that without another word.

It seemed like it was over for today.

He watched the dark-haired leave his cell and wait for the other two Marines, who appeared to have finished their business just about time. After they´d joined his side, Vergo turned to leave.

Coughing weakly, Marco tried to ignore the sickening and all present taste of iron in his mouth. Now that he wasn´t being abused anymore, his body slowly registered the whole extent of the cruel handling and he groaned tormented, giving his best to keep his breathing even and _stay the fuck calm_.

A dead silence had fallen over the room again.

As soon as the Vice Admiral had passed the steel door, Marco tried to scramble to his knees, needing several attempts that all ended with him faceplanting on the floor, before he finally succeeded. Sitting down on his heels, he brought his hands up to his face, sticking two fingers down his throat without hesitation. The stimulus caused his abdomen to contract and his throat to tighten immediately, the whole thing drawing a pained whimper from the Commander.

Seconds later, he emptied his stomach on the ground, getting rid not only of the pill, but also his lunch. Coughing a little, he wiped his mouth provisionally with the back of his hand, the acid taste replacing the previous one. He didn´t know what was the better preference. His head was already spinning dangerously and he couldn´t say, how long he would be able to hold up.

Scraping together the rest of his strength, Marco braced for the pain. "_Veit!_" He called out, loud enough for the other to hear him without fail. The action threw him into a violent coughing fit and the blonde bent over. _Damn, that hurt!_

"T-Taichou?" The response came weaker than he´d hoped it to be.

Propping his upper body on shivering limbs, the blonde gulped in a forced gasp of air before he managed to reply.

"Are you alright, yoi?" He looked to his side, trying to discern his Nakama from the cell´s dark area, but failed. He couldn´t say if it was due to his dangerously tunneling vision or the possibility of Veit taking shelter to hide how immense the pain really was. There was a short pause, before his Nakama answered, "It´s okay. Nothing too grave."

Marco didn´t really believe him. On the other hand, there wasn´t much he could do right now. There was just one thing left he had to check on before he was allowed to pass out.

"Did they feed you something?" His voice started to fail him and his arms buckled under his weight repeatedly.

"No."

Marco breathed a relieved sigh, closing his eyes only for a short moment. When he wanted to open them again, he found his lids way too heavy. A heartbeat later, the darkness became simply overwhelming and his mind shut down. The battered body collapsed lifelessly, already unconsciousness before he hit the floor.

* * *

(*) For everyone, who doesn´t know what a pneumothorax is and doesn´t feel like googling it: A pneumothorax can occur due to traumas like a car accident, where the lung gets damaged by, for example, sharp edges of fractured bones, ribs in the most cases. As a result, air gets into the space between the organ (the visceral pleura to be more precise) and the ribcage (the parietal pleura to be more precise). This causes a collapse of the affected lung, since it usually keeps expanded via vacuum, therefore leaving the lobe useless. The loss can show in different symptoms like quick breathing, panic attacks and the constant feeling of getting too little oxygen, resulting in the things listed above. In minor cases, especially with the spontaneous pneumothorax, it _can_ go unnoticed.

In Marco´s case, I think it was appropriate to let him panic. Poor thing *pats his head* Just wait until I´m finished with you...

Well, I have nothing more to say.

Hope you enjoyed and leave a review.


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